MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

First lesbian marriage in Argentina: both are 67 and couple for 30 years

Norma and Ramona happily celebrate their civil union

Two women that were exiled during the last Argentine military dictatorship (1976/1983) got married Friday in Buenos Aires, the first wedding among lesbians in the country, reported the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Federation of Argentina, or FALGBT.

Norma Castillo from Uruguay and Ramona Arevalo, Argentine, were married by Judge Elena Liberatori after having requested legal protection within the framework of the campaign “Same right, same names,” which the LGBT Argentine Federation has been carrying out for several months. They are both 67 years old and have been a couple for over 30 years.

The first lesbian marriage in Latinamerica took place last March in Mexico.

“They asked for legal protection because they love each other and wanted their family to be recognized by the State”, said the Federation in an official release.

The two women are activists of organizations belonging to the Federation and theirs was the third homosexual marriage in Argentina.

Norma is the head of the pensioners' centre Open Door to Diversity, an organization which fights for the gay-lesbian rights.

Last December 28 two Argentine men celebrated the first gay marriage in the extreme south city of Ushuaia, while a second union of two men took place last March 3 in Buenos Aires.

Same gender civil unions were objected by several appeals before the courts but once the first authorizations were confirmed, tens of requests have flooded the civil registry offices in four Argentine cities where they are legal.

The Argentina congress also has several bills under consideration to legalize same gender marriages that have the support from the ruling coalition and the opposition.
However Argentines immigration authorities threatened to expel a Spanish woman because they don’t recognize her marriage to an Argentine woman as valid, said FALGBT.

After getting married in Canada in 2008, the Argentine Diana Cordero and the Spanish woman, identified lived for a time in Venezuela and at the end of 2009 decided to move to Buenos Aires, according to FALGBT president Maria Rachid.

Once established in the Argentine capital, the Spanish woman asked the immigration agency to acknowledge her marriage in order to obtain residency in Argentina but the request was refuse on grounds that same-sex marriage is not accepted in Argentina, and ordered the Spanish citizen’s expulsion within 30 business days.

The deadline was waived thanks to a motion presented by the couple’s attorney, and they await a decision by the court in the coming weeks.